Side by Side
by breezyme
Summary: Charts Tommy and Jude's two and a half years of friendship as young children. Companion piece to With A Little Help From My Friends.


**Well, I was re-reading ****With A Little Help From My Friends**** to inspire me to update ****Yesterday****, but instead this resulted…**

**Oh, and "Ruit" is meant to be pronounced "Rwee," at least, in this story. It's supposed to at least **_**seem **_**French.**

**Title is a great Kay Starr song.**

* * *

Jude Harrison, aged five ("And a half, thank you!"), sat down on her bed after her last day of school. She sighed. She had lived in Quebec her whole life, but she had found no one outside of her father and the owner of the local used CD store to keep her interested – or, at least, none that would take her seriously. But, what do you expect when you're a five-year-old with a love of classic rock, and a cynical feeling towards all things romantic?

Jude smoothed her dark blue sheets thoughtfully, then got up and walked towards her mirror. She examined herself; large, blue eyes peeked out beneath dark brown eyelashes and just-too-long bangs. Her hair itself was a wavy, blond mass which barely brushed her baggy _Let It Be _t-shirt. She wasn't a great beauty, but she wasn't entirely unfortunate-looking either. She didn't know why Jonathan Ruit had said she was uglier than a pig's behind.

Sighing once more, Jude bounded down the stairs and opened the front door. "Going to the park Dad, love you!" she quickly yelled before slamming the door shut behind her.

"Sadie, make sure your sister doesn't kill herself at the park!" Stuart Harrison yelled from the kitchen.

"Stuart!" Victoria Harrison admonished her husband.

"C'mon dad, really?" seven-year-old Sadie Harrison asked from her spot in front of the t.v. "Judecan take care of herself for one day."

"And make sure she gets home before seven!" Stuart said. Sadie rolled her eyes and ran to the door, fishing her shoes out of the wicker basket by the front door.

"Can't believe her, I've got no time to apply make-up…" she grumbled, pulling on some delicate white wedges. Once outside, she ran a couple of blocks until she caught up to her little sister.

"Oh great," Jude groaned. "A babysitter."

"Hey, I enjoy this about as much as you, so just shut it, yeah?" Jude rolled her eyes and pulled her Discman out of the bag slung over her shoulder. As the lyrics of Hole's _Violet _slowly replaced the sound of Sadie's words in her ears, Jude smiled.

Sadie pulled lip gloss, eye shadow and a compact out of her purse. The contrast between the two sisters was startling.

Jude slipped the Discman back into her bag. Once she reached the jungle gym, the second chorus began, and Jude started to climb. She cursed as the CD skipped.

"You know, it wouldn't skip if you wouldn't climb with it," someone said. Jude screeched and fell; people randomly talking to her was not a normal occurrence.

Her CD player started freaking out. She turned it off and cursed again. "Unlike some people, I require music to breathe," she said. "'Of all noises, I think music is – '"

"'- The least disagreeable'," the boy finished. "Samuel Johnson. Very nice."

Jude blinked. "He wrote the first dictionary of the English language, you know," she said.

"Yep. We learned about him in English last year," the boy said. "I'm Tommy. You've got leaves in your hair."

"I'm Jude. You've got gloop in your hair," she retorted.

"It's called gel."

"'That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.' And that which we call gloop by any other name is still gloop."

The boy's mouth quirked into a smile. "I suppose." The two sized each other up for a few moments. Jude nodded as if giving permission, and Tommy spoke again.

"So, 'Hey Jude'?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

She grinned. "And my sister's named Sadie."

"Nice. I wish I could say I was named after _Tommy Gun_, but unfortunately my mother doesn't even know who the Clash is."

"My mom didn't know who the Beatles were until she met my dad. What does your dad say?" She leaned against the jungle gym, feeling very relaxed.

"Not much," Tommy said. "He's not around a lot. So, what were you listening to?"

Jude ignored the abrupt change of topic, always happy to talk about music. "_Live Through This._"

"Great album," Tommy said. "The blending of melody and grunge is magical."

Jude grinned; she just might have found a friend.

* * *

"Jude, it's 6:30!" Sadie called a couple hours later.

"Aw, Sadie, just a little longer?" Jude begged.

"Nope. C'mon Jude, Mom'll be mad if you're late again."

"Sorry," Jude said, turning to her new friend. "Uh, see you around?"

"How about I walk home with you?" Tommy asked, not quite ready to let go of his friend just yet.

"Okay!" Jude said, face lighting up. Sadie made no comment to the addition to their group other than to raise her eyebrow.

When they reached Jude's house, Tommy excitedly broke into Jude's rant on the lack of knowledgeable (in the area of music, anyways) people within the tiny town where they lived. "No way! We're neighbors!"

"Really?" Jude asked, equally excited. Tommy nodded vigorously. Jude grabbed his wrist and ran inside the house, stopping only when she found her dad.

"Hi Dad this is Tommy…"

"DuTois," Tommy cut in eagerly.

"Yeah, and he can stay for dinner, right? Right? Mom always makes too much anyways, and - "

"Jude!" her father said. "Stop. Slow down." Stuart turned to the brown-haired, blue-eyed, five-foot-three _boy _standing next to his daughter. "Tom DuTois, you say? How do you know Tom?"

"Well, I met him at the park, and it turns out he lives next door, Dad, how great is that?! Oh, and of course he goes to my school, if you can even call that place a school…" – The town where they lived had such a small population of children that only one building was used for all the students – "He can stay for dinner, right, Dad?"

"Um, Tommy, did you ask your parents?"

"Yes," Tommy said. Jude hid her confusion; she didn't care why he didn't as long as he stayed for dinner.

"Okay, I guess it's fine then…"

"Yes!" Jude said. She started dragging Tommy up the stairs. "So, you have to hear _Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam_, because Kurt was just ace at it…" Stuart shook his head indulgently, secretly pleased that his girl had found a friend, even if he was a little older and a little… male-er.

* * *

**So, worthy of continuing, yeah? I liked it.**

**-breezy**


End file.
